Istanbul to Belgrade

Looking around from Istanbul, at the airports within my circle of comfortable fuel range for the SF50, I touched on Belgrade, Grad Beograd, Serbia, and found the airport is named Nikola Tesla International airport. That name Nikola Tesla has such an interesting and controversial history associated with it! I remember him being referenced with great respect, in the courses I took from the Free Enterprise Institute, so far back in my past  So of course I just had to visit this city, with an airport named after him. Here are some things to do in Belgrade.

Climbing out from runway 25R at the expansive Istanbul airport. The visibility is fairly good, considering the hazy conditions.

Turning left over the Black Sea for a short time; the Northern Turkish coast is barely visible through the misty air.

Climbing through 10,000 feet, and almost on the 297 degree direct course toward Belgrade. You can see that the green predicted range rings are visible again on the multi-function display on the right, as they are during most initial climb-outs, before the higher thinner air reduces the fuel burn rate.

Pretty view of the rising sun behind me, as I level off at my 26,000 foot cruising altitude. At this altitude, cruise speed approaches 300 knots, and fuel burn reduces to about 60 gallons per hour, which gives me plenty of range to make it to Belgrade with about 150 gallons of reserve fuel on board.

Crossing the Sava River, just east of Belgrade, as I descend towards Nikola Tesla airport. I'm not sure this plane would be making wingtip condensation trails as often as X-Plane shows it, but I think they look pretty cool, and in all fairness, the air is pretty moist out there, on this particular early morning, with the temperature and dew-point only a few degrees apart.

On short final to runway 30 at Nikola Tesla airport. The X-Plane ATC module vectored me way off what would have been almost a straight-in approach to runway 30, but then they got me back on track just in time. I was comfortable during all this misdirection, by monitoring the ILS to runway 30 approach on the Garmin G1000.

Cyprus to Istanbul

Today's flight heads from Cyprus to Istanbul International airport, in Istanbul, Turkey. Here are some things to do in Istanbul. Dad has flown into Istanbul airport many times, and I was in the cockpit "jump" seat with the crew, one of those times. I've had friends post pictures from their vacations which stopped there. I've read about how the Russian submarines use the Bosporus and Turkish Straits, to get from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean Sea.

Flying a short crosswind leg after takeoff, to intercept my planned route direct to Istanbul. Looking back at Larnaca airport, you can see it is largely surrounded by water.

Climbing Northwest toward the Mediterranean Sea and then Istanbul, about 500 miles away.

Over Behsehir Lake in Southern Turkey. I suppose there's nothing special about this large lake, except I happened to be over it, when the time came to go get some breakfast, so I caught a snapshot before I left.

On the ground in Istanbul. The simulator didn't have any instrument approaches for Istanbul in its database, so it was a little dicey getting in here, with limited visibility, but it worked out in the end. Here, I'm waiting for another taxi clearance, after landing on runway 25R, and taxiing back to cross the runway. Note all the wind powered generators in the distance - yes, in the simulator, they are all rotating!

Taxiing, it seems miles, to my assigned gate at Istanbul airport. Off in the distance is the Black Sea.

Settled in at my assigned gate at Istanbul airport. I continue to be amazed, at the level of simulated detail that is captured about these airports all around the world. Even the ramp lights are twinkling in the afternoon mist.

Snow day at home

Today being a snow day in Littleton, I switched aircraft to the Beechcraft Baron model 58, took off from my local Centennial airport in today's icy snowy weather, and hand-flew a few instrument approaches. Fun!

I forgot to capture an in-flight screenshot of the Baron's more traditional instrument panel, which consists of mostly round dials and physical switches, so here's an afterthought snapshot of the front of the cockpit, as I'm sitting on the ground in Istanbul :-) 

Beirut to Cyprus

This next leg, is a short 112NM flight from Beirut to Larnaca International airport, in Larnaca, Cyprus. I've heard of Cyprus over the years, but never been there. I have to admit I wasn't even sure if it was part of the Grecian islands. As it turns out, it's not. It's the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and is relatively neutral in relation to the middle eastern nations. It's only a little over a hundred miles from Beirut, so why not stop in? Here are some things to do in Cyprus.

Beirut airport was quiet and peaceful, with nobody on the radio or moving around on the ramp, until a moment after I called for my departure and taxi clearances, and suddenly there were several of us lined up to take off from runway 21. I had to wait for a Sikorsky S76 helicopter to "taxi" out in front of me and take off, before I was cleared to go.

Climbing out from Beirut, over the Mediterranean Sea, and looking back, I am once again reminded of our wonderful taxi driver / tour guide, who took us on so many interesting day trips, including the one that went up on top of that tall range of Lebanon Mountains.

The X-Plane ATC algorithm gave me a circuitous approach to runway 22 at Larnaca International airport, that included a circle over most of the island. Somewhere around that circle, they once again vectored me right into a ridge that was higher than me. I kept waiting for them to turn me toward the airport, but ultimately, I had to pull up and climb a little, to barely clear the ridge, and then they gave me a right turn at about the same time as I would have impacted the terrain, if I'd stayed on my assigned altitude. I feel like I should say, as flawed as the ATC module is, this is actually really good practice, considering the number of real-world accident reports I've read, where a controller vectored an aircraft into a hillside, and the pilot, being in the clouds, and not paying close enough attention to their exact position relative to high terrain on their map, didn't realize their immediate danger, and flew their assigned heading, right up until it killed them. The colored terrain hazard depiction in this aircraft makes it unbelievably simple to avoid high terrain, and I can see why many owners of even relatively old aircraft are rushing to upgrade their instrument panels with these elegant and expensive glass displays. In addition to being cool, they can be life-savers.

On short final to runway 22 at Larnaca International airport on the island of Cyprus.

Baghdad to Beirut

Here's my planned flight from Baghdad to Rafic Hariri International airport in Beirut, Lebanon. Here is a list of some things to see and do in Beirut. We were "bumped" off the plane in Beirut every day for a week, on our family relocation trip, which was quite concerning, but our anxiety was almost completely mitigated by a very friendly taxi driver, who took us under his wing. Each morning, after we called the airport, and learned that the one flight was overbooked again, he picked us up, and gave us another fascinating tour of the area.

The X-Plane ATC gave me a flawed clearance to descend from my cruising altitude to 5,000 feet, well before I got to these coastal mountains, which appear to top out in the 4,000-5,000 meter elevation range. Not a good plan! I complied with the clearance, by descending very slowly, as I could see the horizon disappearing behind the ridge line. In IFR conditions, I would've been at risk of running into this ridge, although the SF50's terrain warning display probably would've given me the warning I needed, to avoid becoming a statistic. On a side note, I remember our taxi driver / tour guide taking us up on top of these mountains, where I think I remember him telling us that we had a view of seven countries. I remember him mentioning Lebanon, Baalbek, Tyre, Sidon, and then my memory fails me.

On the ground in Beirut, with a good view out my windshield of a B-747 taking off.

Tehran to Baghdad

Today's flight planned route is from Tehran to Baghdad International airport, in Baghdad, Iraq. I remember Dad talking about flying into Baghdad back in his days as an airline pilot. Here's a list of things to do in Baghdad.

Departing Tehran to the southeast, the nearby Elburz mountain range between Tehran and the Caspian Sea are visible beyond the airport.

Climbing out toward Baghdad, passing through 7,230 feet, the terrain hazard warning colors indicate that I'm already above most of the terrain in front of me.

Some interesting looking mountains along my route of flight.

Crossing the Sirwan River just East of Baghdad.

On the ground in Baghdad, I am surprised to find that only the runways and ramp areas are depicted in the simulator, and there are no buildings anywhere. I taxied back to the end of the runway, and left the plane there for next time.

Dubai to Tehran

Heading from Dubai International to Mehrabad International airport in Tehran, Iran. We passed through Tehran when I was a kid, on our family relocation trip. Then some years later, Dad took a temporary assignment to fly out of Tehran. I didn't realize there were two international airports, and inadvertently chose the secondary airport as my destination, instead of the one named for Khomeini. Here are some things to do and see in Tehran.

Climbing out from Dubai International airport after takeoff.

Departing the Dubai area, looking back at the complex shoreline.

Approaching Mehrabad International airport on another fine sunny day.

On the ground at Mehrabad International airport.

Karachi to Dubai

Here's my flight planned route from Karachi to Dubai International airport in the Emirate of Dubai, UAE. My neighbor's daughter married a pilot, who for some years flew an Embraer 170 all over the world, for the royal family in Dubai. I think she even moved to Dubai for awhile. Here's a list of fun things to do in Dubai.

I'm trying to use the updated X-Plane ATC services again for this trip. Seems to be working OK. In this snapshot, I'm getting my clearance to taxi out from the terminal to runway 25L for takeoff.

Flying up the North side of the Gulf of Oman.

Fun depiction of the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf, on the moving map display, as I'm descending towards Dubai.

On the short final approach for runway 12L at Dubai, on a beautiful sunny clear VFR day.

MSFS 2020 Preview

I just ran across several Flight Simulator vloggers' posts, positively *raving* about Microsoft's pre-Alpha demo last month, of their new Flight Simulator (MSFS) 2020 software, planned for release next year. After watching their video blog posts, I'm getting tentatively excited about the prospect of a new MSFS release, after the long hiatus following their release of Flight Simulator X, ten years ago. If you're a FlightSim enthusiast, and you were unaware of this new development in the past few weeks, you might want to watch this half-hour video by a knowledgeable and well-spoken vlogger who goes by the handle frooglesim. 

New Delhi to Karachi

Now heading from New Delhi to Jinnah International airport in Karachi, Pakistan, the fifth largest city in the world. Who could pass up a visit to Karachi?

Nothing to see out there, at my cruise altitude of 21,000 feet. I tried my usual maximum cruising altitude of 26,000 first, and although I was cruising with blue skies and puffy clouds below, I was facing 45+ knots of headwind, so I tried a few thousand lower, and found much lower winds, but unfortunately, it dropped me into the clouds.

On this "interesting" overcast day, with visibility reported as 4 miles in fog, the airport is technically in VFR conditions, so the simulated Karachi approach controller gave me a visual approach to runway 25L. Here I am, leaning on my backup plan, having setup for, and now flying, the ILS approach, and down to 1,000 feet and a little less than 3 miles out, with the airport just barely coming into sight. You can see it too... right?

Kathmandu to New Delhi

Heading Westward again. Here's the planned flight from Kathmandu, Nepal direct to Indira Gandhi International airport in New Delhi, India. I had our family's relocation trip in mind, recalling the time we were ordered off the plane one dark stormy night at New Delhi airport. Foreflight's aeronautical map overlay includes a color-coded depiction of terrain height, with the high terrain in the darkest brown, so the very high mountainous area of Tibet is very recognizable.

Lined up for takeoff on runway 20 at Kathmandu, on this hazy overcast morning. I find it interesting to see all the high terrain surrounding me, depicted on the topographical display. The dialog box to the right of the screen, is the simulator's air traffic control (ATC) communication interface, which I'm attempting to use, for the first time on this adventure. I tried using it several months ago, and X-Plane's ATC was not helpful at all, leaving me without any instructions at key moments, such as when waiting for takeoff clearance. So far, so good, as I got the correct clearance to taxi for takeoff, and am waiting for the takeoff clearance.

Takeoff clearance received and executed. Now I'm climbing out of the Kathmandu area. There are rocks in those clouds! Today's departure from Kathmandu involves climbing straight out for a short while, then a climbing right turn to intersect my planned en-route course.

Turning on course for New Delhi, as the right turn intersects my planned route of flight, continuing the climb to my planned cruising altitude of 26,000 feet.

Climbing above the clouds, the magnificent Himalaya mountains of the Annapurna Conservation Area in Nepal are peeking out above the clouds, off to the North of my route.

Level at 26,000 feet, on course for New Delhi. The topographical depiction on the multi-function display very clearly shows the strikingly high terrain of the Himalayas off to my right.

On the ground at Indira Gandhi International Airport, in New Delhi. The yellow path is X-Plane telling me how to taxi to my assigned parking on the airport. I am pleased with the ATC services provided by X-Plane 11 on this trip. The software has received several updates, since the last time I tried to work with their ATC, and this time, there were no significant glitches. One surprise was that I was expecting to fly the entire ILS approach to runway 10, but ATC gave me the visual approach to runway 09 instead. I guess the real-world weather was good enough, that the ILS approach wasn't necessary.